COURSE OF DEVELOPMENT ON THE EARTH. 155 



present is our first existence as rational beings ; 

 and whether our terrestrial lives (if we have 

 more than one) succeed each other immediately, 

 without any intervals of other-world experience ? 

 In answer to the first question, we may say that 

 if there is a succession of lives, it will probably 

 be from lower to higher, corresponding with 

 progressive development on the physical plane ; 

 and consequently we may suppose that we have 

 reached our present stage of civilisation by 

 passing through some at least of the lower 

 stages of humanity. The second question may 

 be decided by a mere reference to the vast 

 amount of testimony which all ages have fur- 

 nished to the existence of disembodied human 

 spirits. 



There are not many serious objections to the 

 doctrine of successive existences. One of the 

 most important is perhaps that if we lose our 

 memory, we are practically new creations. But 

 memory is often lost, wholly or partially, in 

 the present life ; and in the rare phenomenon 

 of double-consciousness, persons have been 

 known to fall into a deep trance, which has 

 erased the memory of their former life, without 

 at all impairing their reason. A second deep 



